Saturday, February 25, 2012

I've said it so often that I might as well make a song about it, but a quick recap. The Family Research Council is an SPLC designated hate group masquerading as a Christian organization that promotes "family values." What it actually does is defame the LGBT community by publishing discredited studies and misinterpreting legitimate studies to reinforce their beliefs that LGBT are somehow harmful in a variety of ways.

This past week, the Virginia state senate recently passed a bill that would allow adoption agencies to refuse to place children with same-sex parents on the basis of "morality." This strengthens Virginia's already present (though not as directly intentional) discrimination that prevents non-married couples from jointly adopting children. (Perhaps not a bad idea in itself, but it does discriminate against same sex couples as they're not allowed to marry in Virginia.)

Thursday, February 23, 2012

In case you missed it, (and since I'm assuming you don't track hate-mongers and bigots for the sake of tracking them you probably did) Bryan Fischer posted this article about "religious liberty." Evidently a Rhode Island public high school had a prayer banner (picture after the jump) hanging on one of the walls, a gift from its first class of students. This did not sit well with an atheist junior who lobbied to have the banner removed. (She was successful.) Mr. Fischer took umbrage with that decision calling the girl a "little atheist bully" among many, many other things.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

It's a question that might offend a lot of LGBT individuals, and I want to make clear that I mean it in pure innocence, not with the implication that we LGBT individuals are a problem that needs to be "handled." But we are different, and we do challenge the worldview of a lot of people, and I think we need to be aware of that. It's all well and good to say that prejudice and discrimination shouldn't exist, and that it's everyone else's job to get their facts right, but I don't think that's neither true nor realistic, at least not yet.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Within me there has been a sort of amicable duel between my belief in gender equality and my position as a Dominant within the BDSM culture. At first glance, the latter seems to strike down the former. I believe that my girlfriend has a certain place in our relationship in which she belongs, along with a set of duties and responsibilities. There is an order to things that suggests a certain lack of equality.

Monday, February 20, 2012

For the record, I consider myself to be moderately gender-fluid, but for all intents and purposes am cis-gendered. Adam, being trans himself and going through the transitioning process can talk on this with more medical and emotional accuracy, but I think it's important to explore things from the perspective of someone who is not transgendered, because that's the perspective a majority of people will view it from.

My adventures with the TSA continued today as I attempted to get through security at the Rochester International Airport on my way to my job interview at the lovely, trans-friendly Microsoft. I put my stuff on the conveyor and told the nearest officer that I would prefer to not go through the millimeter wave scanner because I wore a prosthetic that screwed up the scanner. She said "ok, we'll have to pat you down" and didn't offer to let me go through the metal detector instead. So another officer motioned for me to go through the millimeter wave scanner, and I did. Predictably, my dick set it off and they made me go through again. I looked at the scanner and it had squares all over my genitals and I told the lady who is detaining me at that point that I am transgender, I identify as male and I was wearing a prosthetic that screws up the scanner. She asked if I prefer a male or female to pat me down and I said male.

She called a supervisor and the lady who I first asked about going through the metal detector asked me my name. Assuming she meant my legal name, I told her my birth name, not my preferred name. She said "oh well you'll have to be patted down by a female". I said that although my name is not changed legally, I do go by a male name. Then the (male) supervisor came over and told me that because I "present" female, I needed to be patted down by a female. I told him that was certainly open to interpretation and that I felt that I presented male. They argued among themselves for a bit before the supervisor left to call his supervisor. The one lady called over another lady and asked if I would be "offended" if I was patted down by a female. I told her that was fine, that I just wanted to get out of here. I mentioned again I was wearing a prosthetic that felt like a penis so it was really up to the officer if she was okay with that. They took me into the "private screening" room and patted me down. Everything was fine until they reached my packer. They felt it, squeezed it and started giggling to each other. "How am I supposed to even be qualified for something like this?" said the one lady. I was silent. I later explained to them how I had been through this before and that's why I had planned to go through the metal detector. They said next time to just use Adam and go through the metal detector.

Those who know me know I'm rarely affected by anything, but as I write this I am still shaking. It was traumatic. It was horrible. And I will be writing the ROC Airport to ensure it never happens to anyone again.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Yesterday on the great internets I posed a question to a bunch of "high" profile anti-LGBT individuals, namely Tony Perkins and Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, Peter Labarbera of NAFTA, and Thomas Peters, better known as @americanpapist. The question: "With growing support for same sex marriage among voters and huge support among young voters, what is the conservative plan to combat same sex marriage?"

Thursday, February 16, 2012

In case you haven't been paying attention these past few weeks, a bill has been making its way through the New Jersey government that would legalize same sex marriage. It passed 24-16 in the state senate and 42-33 in the house, but the Republican Governor Chris Christie has promised to veto the bill even though a Rutgers poll found that 54% of New Jersey voters approve of it (with 39% opposed).

Chris Christie thinks that the matter should be put to the voters of New Jersey (and to be fair, 53% of Jerseyans support bringing the measure to a vote), which would be fine if it weren't a case of civil rights. Civil Rights issues should not be voted on by the people. These are civil rights, not flavor of the month pieces of legislation. They should be inherent and protected by the government, not subjected to the whims of an often under-educated populace (even if that populace supports them as New Jersey clearly does). If civil rights for African-Americans had been left to the voters in the 60s, they would not have passed.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

There probably are attractive, uninhibited people who are excited by the rewards of porn careers -- people who are untroubled by the ethics or lifestyle limitations of making a living as sex workers, or who at the least may consider it the best of their uninspiring options. But there are probably relatively few of these people, and consumers should know who they are so they can make informed choices.

Bear with me here, I'm posting on stupidity more so than any aspect of the LGBT movement. Evidently due to the deluge of couples that wanted to marry last July 24th (the first day same sex marriages could be performed in New York), gay and straight, New York City has instituted a lottery system to fairly decide which will get the opportunity to wed that day and which will have to wait. Because of this, some LGBT organizations are urging straight people to not get married on "their day."

Monday, February 6, 2012

This is the letter I emailed to my parents after getting some questions from them about why Facebook was using male pronouns on my profile. I had changed my gender but told Facebook to hide it, though it still changed my pronouns. I am posting this because I think I did a good job and want to share it with people.

I’ve had this idea in the works pretty much since I started my previous blog sometime around February of 2010. But I wanted to do it right because my relationship with the band is so personal and the impact they’ve had on my life so monumental. So I waited…and I waited…and I waited. I think now is the time to finally lay everything out in the open, to detail my path through life and how it’s intersected with t.A.T.u. many times.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

To the Editor:I understand the fear that many christians have about gay marriage. To some, this is about obeying god's law. But I would challenge them to ask themselves whether they really know god's will in this case.

My understanding of the christian message is that Jesus was a revolutionary figure who came to challenge others to accept those considered "outcast" in his day and age by religious and political authorities. His message of radical love and inclusion is just as relevant today as it was when he was alive.

I am reminded of the moving passage in "Huckleberry Finn" where Huck decides that he would rather go to hell than abandon his friendship with the fugitive slave Jim. Mark Twain, the author, in my opinion, expressed a much more christian message than that of his contemporaries, though he himself may have been an atheist. Many of his christian contemporaries used the bible to justify slavery.

If our fear of hell is greater than our fear of lack of charity, then we are missing the spirit of the christian message. As a straight black man, I am honored to stand with my gay friends as an ally, as I see them to be just as beautiful reflections of god as anyone else. New York State did the right thing.